And sep abating machine



April 27,1926. W. B. LOUTHAN PIN CUTTING AND SEPARATING HA CHINE Filed Jan. 7. 1926 Patented Apr. 27, 1926. v I I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

WILLIAM B. LOU'IHAN, OF EAST LIVERPOOL, 193110.

I'm cu'r'rrne .AND SEPARATING MACHINE. Application filed January 7, i926. Seriai No. 79,889.

To all whom it may concern: machine constructed in accordance with my Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. LOUTHAN, invention; I V

a citizen of the United States, residing at Figure 2 is a similar view of the opposite East Liverpool, in the county of Columbian'a side thereof; p 55 and State of Ohio, have invented certain Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional i w new and useful Improvements in Pin Cut taken on the line 3+3 of Figure 1;

ting and Separating Machines, of which Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of the following is a specification, reference be- Figure 3.

ing had to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, 1 denotes a supporting I0 This invention relates to pin cutting and frame which may be of any suitable form separating machines and more particularly and construction but which preferably com.

to a machine of this character employed for prises two connected end pieces of inverted cutting and separating porcelain pins used V-shap'e provided with horizontal beams" 2.

by potters for spacing apart glazed pottery Mounted in suitable bearings 3 atthetop 06 Ware during the process of firing. of the V-shaped end pieces or members is the An important object of the invention is shaft at of a knife drum .5. Thelatter is to improve the structure disclosed in my cylindrical and has suitably fixed to it a prior Patent, No. 928,206, patented uly 13, plurality of circular or disk-like rotary out 1909, for pin cutting and separating maters or knives'6 which are suitably spaced 0 chines, to provide therein a structure whereapart according to the length of the pins to by proper supporting of the pins is insured. be cut by the machine. I

As set forth in this prior patent, a struc- Arranged upon the frame beneath the ture is provided whereby thepins which are knives is an endless carrier adapted to reproduced from elongated-strands of clay are ceive the pin boards and to carry them 76 5 separated by passing themupon a belt bethrough the machine and beneath the knives n'eath cutters whereby they are at once sepaso that the latter will cut the plastic strips rated and removedfroin the support upon upon such boards. Said carrier preferably which they are arranged for delivery to a consists oftwoor more belts 7 passed around platform from which they may be removed horizontally disposeddrums or rollers 8, 9 so for use. In this structure, the "delivery of fixed upon shafts 10, 11 journal-ed in suitthe pins to the platform is accomplished by able bearings 12 upon the horizontal beams the disk knives employed for cutting the 20f the end pieces. The drum 8 is arranged same, the clay adhering to the knives after at the front end of the frame and the drum it has been out It will be obvious that if 9 at its rear end; andupon one end of the the cutting is not complete, the tendency of shaft 11 of the rear drum is a pu-lley 13 to the pins to adhere to the board or other receive 'a'driving belt 1 1. On the other end. implement upon which they are being fed of the shaft 11 is a pulley 15 which is'con} to the machine is increased and furthermore nected by a crossed belt 16 to'apulley 17 i if they do not adhere and are only partially on one end of the'knife shaft 4. By making separated, they are damaged in the separathe pulleys 15,17 of the same size and emtion resulting from their removal from the pl-oying the crossed belt, it will be seen that knife blades. Accordingly, an important oh the knives will be driven at the same speed I ject of this invention is the production of a as the carrier and that as they sever the structure wherein the pins are properly plastic material, the latter will adhere to. I

severed and separated from one another. 7 them and be carried upwardly and for-- These and other objects I attain by the wardly.

construction shown in the accompanying Forthe .purpose-ofremoving from the drawing, wherein for the purpose of illusknives the pins or' pieces of plastic material tration is shown a preferred embodiment of cut by them, I provide a plurality of defiectmy invention and wherein ing plates or scrapers 18 one of which pro- .7 Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of a jects between each two adjacent knives. As

illustrated, said scrapers are inclined up wardly and rearwardly and have their rear free ends I projecting between the knives while theii" front and lower ends are suitably secured to a cross bar 19 supported at its ends by brackets 20 from the end pieces of the frame. The scrapers or deflectors 18 are so disposed that pinscarried upwardly and forwardly between the knives 6 will be engaged and loosened by them and will drop upon a pin board or upon any other suitable catching plat-e or receptacle placed upon a rack 21. While the latter may be a support of any description, it preferably comprises a horizontally disposed board arranged above the carrier and in advance of and beneath the deflectors or scrapers 18 and supported by brackets 22 projecting from the end pieces of the frame.

The pin boards passing through the mavchine drop upon the elevated rear portion of a downwardly and forwardly inclined chute 23'which conveys them by gravity to the front of the machine. This chute 23 is secured between the end pieces or members of the frame and may be of any suitable form and construction.

at denotes a rack or support similar to the rack 21 and consisting of a board mounted on brackets 25-secured to the forward ends of the horizontal beams 2 so that said board is disposed at the extreme front of the machine and in advance of the working stretch of the endless carrier. Said rack or support 24 is adapted to support the pinboards before they are placed upon the carrier and passed through the machine, so that the operator may remove any imperfect strands upon the boards. The structure above described constitutes the invention disclosed in the prior patent above referred to.

It will be obvious that in a structure of this character, there is a certain tendency of the belt 7 to sag with the result that the boards are permitted to move downwardly to such an extent at times that proper separation of the pins by the knives 6 is not obtained. This is particularly apt to occur in a machine of this type due to the fact that thematerials handled are moist and have a tendency when they come in contact with the belts to moisten the same, causing the same to stretch. I accordingly mount upon the frame members 2 seats 26 vertically aligning with the shaft 4 of the knife drum. Upon these seats, I dispose springs 27, the upper ends of which support bear ings 28 in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 29. This shaft has rollers 30 secured thereto corresponding in number and arrangement to the belts '7 and each engagmg the under surface of the upper run of one of the belts. With this structure, even though the belts themselves may stretch,

they cannot sag at the vital point or that point lying immediately beneath the cutters. Furthermore, the springs have the tendency to remove from these belts 7 strain which is placed thereon as the boards are passed beneath the cutters with the result that the tendency of the belts 7 to sag is decreased. The springs 27 are, of course, of the set type and of such length that the upper surface of the upper runs of the belt, when passing over the pulleys 30, is spaced below the lower edges of the knives a distance slightly less than the thickness of the board which is employed. The knives are thus prevented from cutting the belts and at the same time the boards are very firmly held against the knives to insure proper cutting of the pin.

The machine in its operation is identical.

with the exception of the above 'changes'to the machine described in the prior patent above noted. I

I claim 1. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, a knife shaft, a plurality of rotary disk knives upon the latter, front and rear rollers journaled in the frame, endless belts between said rollers and disposed beneath the knives to provide an endless carrier, deflectors or scrapers projecting between the knives, a support beneath and in front of said deflectors 0r scrapers, means for rotating the knife shaft and said rollers and means yieldably resisting separation of the endless belts from the knives.

2. Ainachine of the character described comprising a frame, a knife shaft, a plurality of rotary disk knives uponthe latter, front and rear rollers journaled in the frame, endless belts between said rollers and dis posed beneath the knives to provide an endless carrier, deflectors or scrapers projecting between the knives, a support beneath and in front of said deflectors or scrapers, means for rotating the knife shaft and said rollers, means yieldably resisting separation of the endless belts from the knives comprising a shaft extending between the runs of said belts and paralleling said rollers, pulleys carried by said shaft correspondin in number and arrangement to the belts-and springs resisting movement of the shaft in a'direction away from the knives. V

3. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, a knife shaft, a plurality of rotary disk knives upon the latter, front and rear rollers journaled in the frame, endless belts between said rollers and disposed-beneath the knives to provide an endless carrier, deflectors or scrapers projecting between the knives, a support beneath and in front of said deflectors or scrapers, means endless belts from the knives comprising a shaft extending between the runs of said belts and paralleling said rollers, pulleys carried by said shaft corresponding in number and arrangement to the belts and springs resisting movement of the shaft in adirection away from the knives, said springs being inopera the knives tive to move said shaft toward a distance such thatsaid belts may engage the knives.

' In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my 7 s1 gnature. 

